Violations of Human Rights
like those caused by communal violence, and violation of Human Rights of Dalits,
Minorities, Women, and Children have not received due attention from the middle
class dominated civil society and opinion makers, and not even from the National
Human Rights Commission (NHRC); it does not appear to be on government's agenda.

During freedom struggle
two leaders-Mahatma Gandhi and M.N. Roy - took serious note of communalism and
the Hindu Muslim question. Almost all other leaders under the Congress umbrella,
including Jawaharlal Nehru maintained that once the British left, this problem
(as also the question of human right violation caused by the hierarchical system)
would be solved in no time. Gandhiji, however, often said, in most unambiguous
terms, that unless these two evils are done way with, India has no right to
Independence from British Raj. Ultimately he fell a victim to an intolerant
cult-nationalism. Gandhiji was a religious man, and he had the same respect
for other religions that he gave to his own, Hinduism. And he wanted the Hindus,
as also other Indians, to follow his example and solve the Hindu Muslim question.
Regrettably this approach has not helped in combating communalism.

M.N. Roy wrote a book, while
in Jail 1930-36, Historical Role of Islam with a view to solving the Hindu Muslim
question. He wrote: "although Islam came to India after it had played out
its progressive role, and its leadership had been wrested from the learned and
cultured Arabs, the revolutionary principles of the days of its origin and ascendancy
were still inscribed on its flag." A critical study of History would reveal
that Brahmanical orthodoxy having overwhelmed the Buddhist revolution; India
of the eleventh and twelfth centuries must have been infested with multitudes
of persecuted heretics who would eagerly welcome the message of Islam".
Roy maintained that we must be clear as to the causes of the Muslim conquest
of India so that we get rid "of the prejudices that makes the orthodox
Hindu Look upon his Muslim neighbour as an inferior being. Unless a radical
change of attitude is brought about by a sober sense of History, the communal
question will never be solved."

Addressing the Muslims,
Roy wrote: "few Muslims of our days may be conscious of the glorious part
played on the stage of History by the faith they profess." Roy therefore
urged upon both Hindus and Muslims to revive the positive aspects and the creative
heritage of Islamic culture. "Indians, both Hindus and Muslims", Roy
concluded, "could profitably draw inspiration from . . . [the] knowledge
of Islam's contribution to human culture and a proper appreciation of the Historical
value of that contribution would shock the Hindus out of their arrogant self
satisfaction, and cure the narrow- mindedness of the Muslims for our day by
bringing them face to face with the true spirit of the faith they profess".
Our government and opinion makers must take Gandhi's approach minus the mystique
and Roy's scientific approach to a solution of the problem seriously.

II

Massacre of Sikhs in 1984-General Aurora's affidavit" it is in the above
context that we refer to the 1984 pogrom when more than three thousand Sikhs
were brutally killed in Delhi alone. " Who are the Guilty?" has not
yet been answered. The rulers and their officials have adopted all diabolical
methods to see that the guilty are not punished. The government has now instituted
another enquiry commission to go into the cruel killings with a view to identifying
the guilty. A number of people have submitted sworn affidavits to the commission.
The affidavit submitted by Lt. Gen (Retd) J.S. Aurora, hero of the Bangladesh
war in 1971 is significant in that it indicates quite clearly that the government
was not interested in protecting lives and property of the innocent Sikhs".
The government allowed the communal riots to go on. We give below a summary
of what general Aurora tells in his affidavit dated 21 September 2000:

We [Gen. Aurora, Air Chief
Marshall Arjun Singh, Brig, Sukhjit - all retired at that time, and Patwant
Singh] issued a joint statement on 31 October 1984 at 3.30 pm condemning the
attempt on the life of the prime minister of India. We could make out that highly
volatile situation was fast developing, which if not controlled and timely action
not taken, it could flare up beyond all proportions and which could cause immense
harm to the Sikhs and their families. We agreed to call upon the President Zail
Singh. In our meeting with him on 1 November 84 we expressed our concern on
the large-scale violence and looting which had erupted consequent to the killing
of Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi and requested him to use his good offices
to the stop the bloodshed and destruction of properties. The President said,
"I do not have powers to intervene." We were amazed to hear the said
remark. On our insistence he agreed to speak to the Prime Minister later. We
had also requested him to use the electronic media to stop the mob frenzy and
save innocent Sikhs but he never did so. On our inquiries whether the Army was
being called to restore law and order and normalcy, he said, "I am not
in contact with the Home Minister, Shri Narasimha Rao", and he asked me
to speak to him on the phone. I telephoned Mr. Rao from Rashtrapati Bhawan but
was told that he was not available. Later on when we tried to fix a meeting
with him, we were told that he was busy in some other meeting at his residence.
We then barged into his house without appointment at about 3 p.m. and were surprised
to see that there was no meeting in progress. The situation there looked very
normal and did not reflect that half the city was in flames and murders were
taking place over widespread areas. Was the army being called? He said, "It
will be here in the evening". To our suggestions about co ordination between
police and army as was done in 1947 at the Viceroy's house, the Home Minister
casually replied, "We will see when the army noticed that he did not make
any attempt or effort either to call the GOC of the Delhi area or to contact
him. The Home Minister was grossly negligent in his approach to the events,
which clearly reflected his connivance with the perpetrators of the heinous
crimes being committed against the Sikhs with impunity. On 2 November of the
Area Commander told us that no control room (as suggested by us to the Home
Minister) had been set up. After about a week when we met the Lt. Governor of
Delhi and asked him to take action against the guilty we were shocked when the
L.G. mentioned that the police could not control the violence because for forty
eight hours they were stunned as two of their own policemen had committed the
heinous crime of murdering the Prime Minister. It was apparent that the government
was not at all interested in protecting the lives and property of the innocent
Sikhs.

General Aurora's account
is reminiscent of the Dark Age. And, yet Pundit Nehru was so confident that
this evil would disappear automatically once the British left.

III

Demolition of Babri Masjid: A number of civil society groups and activists hold
meetings and demonstrations on 6 December every year to condemn the demolition
of the Masjid and subsequent communal riots. This year, too, (2000AD) meetings
were held. This year the opposition parties in the parliament raised questions
apropos of the demolition. The opposition parties have demanded the resignation
of three union Ministers against whom cases are pending in a court of law, on
the charge that they were responsible for the demolition. Everyone including
the Sangh Parivar knows who were responsible for the demolition of the Masjid.
Ruchira Gupta, a correspondent in Business India at that time gave a graphic
account of 6 December 1992- she was present throughout. She wrote a piece for
PUCL Bulletin at our request which was published in the Bulletin January 1993.
The leaders of the Parivar appear to have been trapped now. They now want to
get away from this situation. The RSS Chief has come out with the "revelation"
that a bomb explosion brought the Masjid down! Earlier it was claimed by some
Hindutvavadi leaders that the Masjid had fallen down on its own! Note also the
Prime Minister's statement, "the entire nation wants the Ram temple at
Ayodhya". (We should be grateful for small mercies: the equally guilty
Mr. Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister on 6 December 1992 has not come out with any
new theory! He has conveniently forgotten his promise made on 6 December 1992
that the Masjid would be re-built.

Hindutvavadi leaders like
the RSS chief have perfected and legitimized the art of doublespeak and the
language of deceit, utter lies and hypocrisy like George Orwell's (The Animal
Farm) four-legged dictator who quietly changed the original thesis of the revolution,
four legs good, two legs bad" to "four legs good, two legs better";
and from "all animals are equal but some are more equal than others".
The mindset behind this kind of deceit and lies is that if one goes on repeating
a lie like the sheep in Orwell's animal farm chanting regularly the revised
versions who begin to believe that these are the true lessons, the lie will
become truth! Hitler's propaganda chief, Goebells in Nazi Germany had perfected
this art: go on repeating a lie; it will be accepted as truth.

If there is one thing that
has been made clear by 1984 Delhi, Ayodhya (as also by 1992-93 Mumbai and many
other communal riots during the last 53 years) is that there is no place for
political freedom, civil liberties, and tolerance in our country-these values
have been made irrelevant by political reaction and social/ religious barbarism.
In all these communal riots -- the Muslims, the Sikhs, and now the Christians
are victims-there are violations of all standards of morality, justice and freedom.
(The RSS chief has declared that the will tolerate only a swadeshis church for
Christians. Encouraged by such arrogant announcements, assaults on Christians,
rape of Christian women including nuns, destruction of churches, have been on
the increase). Acts of barbarism are committed, and justified, in the name of
faith, thus placing premium on ignorance and making the masses easy of exploitation.